Here is a small, but vital, chapter...also, I'd like to point out that this story covers approximently a year saga, so, we won't meet some of the faces I know you are desperate to see, untill later...
__
They scrambled over the rumble, trying to keep Nicky and his gang in sight, and themselves out of it. The wind caught snatches of sentences. “…bulldozer …police …acquire it … Was that a rat? ….nothing doin’…what kind of scope? … budget….”
Nothing that made sense, yet everything adding to the silent weight that hung around Gonzo’s neck. They were invading his new home. Gonzo caught Fozzie’s hand, as he slipped on a piece of loose brick. The brick fell, clattering to a stop. Nicky turned.
Gonzo and Fozzie leapt down, slipping across broken tiles, and landing behind a stack of empty crates.
They heard footsteps moving towards them. “Nicky.” A woman’s voice. “I defiantly saw something over there, keep back.”
A thin voice. “And they say this place is haunted.”
Nicky laughed. “No such thing.”
Gonzo risked a look around the edge of the wooden crates. Yes, Nicky was there. His back turned to Gonzo and Fozzie. If they broke for it now, they could reach the comparative safety of Gonzo’s cement truck without being seen. “We gotta move,” Gonzo whispered.
Fozzie crept backwards, mouthing the word, No.
Gonzo turned to him. Saw it. Eyes widened. A hand moved over his mouth. A huge creature grabbed Fozzie. A whisper in his ear. “Shh…Don’t move. We won’t hurt you…yet.”
Fozzie’s face was rigid with fear. Gonzo tried to communicate with his eyebrows, but failed.
“Do you know who they are?” the whisper asked.
Gonzo shook his head slightly from behind the blue hand.
“If I release your mouth will you shout?”
Again, Gonzo shook his head.
Slowly the fingers peeled away. Gonzo rubbed his face. When he spoke it was in low tones. “I don’t know who they are,” he managed. “They just came here.”
“As did you,” said Uncle Deadly.
Fozzie tried to speak. Uncle Deadly lifted one finger. The huge monster released him. It took Fozzie three tries to find his voice. “We didn’t mean,” he said, “any harm. But these…” He stopped.
“They are going to destroy it,” Gonzo said. “All of it.”
*^*^*^*
Uncle Deadly snarled as the Behemoth lifted the boulder that covered their entrance. Uncle Deadly waved Gonzo and Fozzie ahead of him. They moved towards the dark gaping hole, then disappeared down inside. As the rock crashed down above, they heard a piercing scream from one of Nicky’s ladies.
In the darkness they felt creatures around them. Something scaly grabbed Gonzo’s hand. He shook it off. “Fozzie, are you ok?” He felt for him, and his hand touched the cold wet rock of the underground cave’s wall.
Fozzie grabbed Gonzo’s arm making him jump. “Gonzo?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
There was a scratch of something hard on hard, then a small match light. “Are you coming or what?” Uncle Deadly said.
“How’d you…?” Fozzie started.
“I have my ways.”
He led them through a network of underground passages. Beings and monsters gazed at them as they passed rooms. Some with long necks, others with rows upon rows of teeth. The occasional huge monster hardly fit into the confined space. They emerged into a candle lit chamber of stalagmites and stalactites, shimmering with crystals.
Uncle Deadly rubbed his hands together as he watched the expanse of the chamber come into view. “At night,” he said. “There is a low fog, then it truly become sublime.”
Fozzie nodded. “Um..hmm,” he said.
“But,” Uncle Deadly went on. “That is not why you are here.”
“Why are we…” Gonzo started.
“Don’t!” Uncle Deadly shouted, his eyes fierce. “Ever, In-terrupt me.”
“Sorry…”
“Apologies are not necessary here,” Uncle Deadly said.
“Sorry, I didn’t realise,” Fozzie said. “Um…sorry about that. Oh. Sorry, I did it again…um.”
Gonzo gently put his hand over Fozzie’s mouth. “Why are we here?” he asked.
“Because,” Uncle Deadly said. “Bad things are going to happen.”
*^*^*^*
“I can let you stay,” Uncle Deadly said. They walked together around the underground lake. He poked Fozzie with one finger. “But only you.”
“Only us?” Fozzie said. “Like, not all those other people?”
“No,” Uncle Deadly replied. “Only you, bear-rug.”
Fozzie looked at Gonzo. Gonzo looked at Fozzie. “But…why?” Fozzie asked.
“Nobody asks why,” Uncle Deadly said. “They only accept the facts.”
“No,” Fozzie shook his head. “I don’t.”
“You don’t?” The creature, turned on him, his voice grating. “You Don’t?”
Fozzie gulped. “I didn’t.”
“Then you don’t understand.” He said the words quietly, slowly, letting them hang in the air. “You will.”
Gonzo stepped up in front of Fozzie. “If we leave,” he said. “The others will defiantly come.”
“So you say, but what proof have you?”
“None,” Gonzo said. “None yet. Give me two days. I’ll have proof. Let us stay, we shall be rid of this policeman and his fellows. Send us away, and they’ll come. They’ll hunt you freaks down, and they’ll destroy your graves forever.”
Uncle Deadly stroked his chin. “Would you like some tea?” he asked.
*^*^*^*
“Fozzie, Fozzie, wake up.” Fozzie sat up fast, and hit his head on the underside of the trailer. “Yeah,” Gonzo said. “I got that feeling. When I woke up. Except, without the pain.”
Fozzie rolled out from under the trailer, and rubbed his head. “The tea,” he said.
“Yeh,” Gonzo said. “Or that soup stuff they gave us.”
Thick soup. It smelt and looked like mud, but tasted, to starving stomachs, warm and sweet. They’d eaten fast, but the worried look had never left Gonzo’s face. Another promise he could not necessarily keep…
“Do you really think we can do it?” Fozzie asked.
They were thinking of the same thing. “I don’t think so,” Gonzo said. “But I do, believe we can do it.”
*^*^*^*
Gonzo hurried to keep up with Fozzie. “Foz, wait, feels like we’ve been walking for miles!”
“We have,” Fozzie said. The town spread out in front of them.
It was the first time Gonzo had been back since he left. He wanted to visit his old jaunts, the park, the plaza. He had somewhere else to go. “Come on,” he said. They walked past shop fronts, and streets. A shop displayed a bank of televisions showing a court case between Reality TV show Fear Factor and a maimed player, Rizzo the Rat.
They stopped at single black door with the words, “Cliff-Top Estates.” Gonzo had remembered the name, and was reminded of the place when he heard Nicky calling to his assistant. Coming here was a risk, but one he was willing to take. “Ready Fozzie?”
“Always.”
And so am I...are you?
Welcome to the Muppet Central Forum!
Jim Henson Idea Man
Back to the Rock Season 2
Bear arrives on Disney+
Sam and Friends Book
